rand paul and others are threatening to block john brennan. susan rice didn't get to the nomination process. is this rocky road if that's how we want to describe it, david, does this hurt the president's credibility or at least his ability to get things done, a small distraction, should it become a smaller one? put it into the wider con tech in terms of what the white house want to be accomplishing right now. >> it does take away according to past presidents, national security is where one says the president says it's a precedent to do this. it's a time that we have a lot of things going on in terms of the president's foreign policy, particularly in the middle east and withdraw in afghanistan coming to the fore and you need someone in the pentagon doing this. it can be seen as a nuisance in that the president want to be talking about his agenda, which is the gun control, immigration, things that people can get done. you have, of course, this sequester and the ongoing issue of the spending situation and taxes. so i think these are the things th